Congestion Pricing Failure Fallout: Bloomberg Calls Assembly Cowardly, Shameful

Photograph of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, announcing congestion pricing was rejected, by Mike Groll/AP

Mayor Bloomberg didn't appear in public after Assembly Leader Sheldon put a nail in congestion pricing's coffin. But Bloomberg did issue an angry press release. The full text is after the jump (and he does thank many politicians who helped), but here's where he lets loose, after noting that while Washington D.C. was willing to give NYC $354 in federal funding, the State Assembly lacked leadership and courage in accepting new ideas:

"If that wasn't shameful enough, it takes a special type of cowardice for elected officials to refuse to stand up and vote their conscience- on an issue that has been debated, and amended significantly to resolve many outstanding issues, for more than a year. Every New Yorker has a right to know if the person they send to Albany was for or against better transit and cleaner air. People know where I stood, and where members of the City Council stood. They deserved at least that from Albany."

Yes, the question of whether a vote should have been held (Silver claimed there wasn't enough support for a vote) will be brought up again and again. But now, as the Sun says, the relationship between Bloomberg and state lawmakers is "in tatters."

The Post called congestion pricing's defeat another "painful civics lesson" from Silver to Bloomberg, though it was less personal than voting down the West Side Stadium. The NY Times reports many lawmakers felt the Bloomberg administration's strategy and tactics were "high-handed" because no one likes being shamed into doing anything.

The Sun notes that with this failure, Bloomberg's "duck is looking a bit lame," and what with the slowing economy. The Daily News' Michael Daly says, "So much for democracy" and lists some interesting Silver inconsistencies. The NY Times editorial, "Mr. Silver Does it Again," points out, "Rarely does one man have a chance to do so much harm to so many...He failed to put New Yorkers’ needs before his personal agenda. That makes him unworthy of his office." And a Newsday editorial says "The cynicism and dysfunction of Albany have reached new depths."

Mayor Bloomberg's statement "on the failure of the State Legislature to vote congestion pricing":

"Today is a sad day for New Yorkers and a sad day for New York City. Not only won't we see the realization of a plan that would have cut traffic, spurred our economy, reduced pollution and improved public health, we will also lose out on nearly $500 million annually for mass transit improvements and $354 million in immediate federal funds.

"I will be speaking with Secretary Peters and will express my thanks for her commitment to innovative solutions to real problems facing large cities today. I will also express my deep disappointment that, sadly, even Washington, which most Americans agree is completely dysfunctional, is more willing to try new approaches to longstanding problems than our elected officials in the State Assembly. It takes true leadership and courage to embrace new concepts and ideas and to be willing to try something. Unfortunately, both are lacking in the Assembly today.
"If that wasn't shameful enough, it takes a special type of cowardice for elected officials to refuse to stand up and vote their conscience- on an issue that has been debated, and amended significantly to resolve many outstanding issues, for more than a year. Every New Yorker has a right to know if the person they send to Albany was for or against better transit and cleaner air. People know where I stood, and where members of the City Council stood. They deserved at least that from Albany.

"The idea for congestion pricing didn't start in our Administration and it won't end today. The $354 million we would have received from Washington tomorrow will go to another city in another state. But the problems congestion pricing could have helped solve are only going to get worse. And too many people from more than 170 environmental, labor, public health and business organizations recognize the merits of congestion pricing and hopefully someday, we will have more leaders in the Legislature who recognize it too.

"We will continue to push forward on the other 126 proposals in PlaNYC that will reduce our carbon footprint and green our City. We will move forward on proposals to plant 1 million trees, introduce hybrid taxis and install green roofs on City buildings. Congestion pricing is just one part of our ambitious agenda.

"I want to thank everyone who has worked tirelessly for congestion pricing and I want to acknowledge the courage and leadership that our partners in the City Council, Speaker Quinn, Governor Paterson, former Governor Spitzer, Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco and some in the Legislature have shown by working together to convince their colleagues to support congestion pricing. Together, we will continue to work to build a greener, greater New York City."

And here's a look back at April 23, 2007, when Mayor Bloomberg he wanted to pursue congestion pricing.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on April 8, 2008 10:35 AM

Comments [rss]

west side Michael

Sheldon Silver has been a advocate of saving rent

protections he is a god.

west side Michael

The parking garage mafia did not want this tax

they defeated it at "20 dollars the first hour

or any part thereof"plus tax why would they want this to pass? to lose business.

This whole thing was a sham however well intentioned

it's like Con Edison telling us to save electricity

while a zillion hi rises are being built which use

a zillion megawatts of juice.

pissyrabbit

Regardless of which side of this you are on, the issue now is that there was no vote. I, as a voter, want to know what my reps are voting for. These people just dodged the bullet by not standing up and being counted.

"Cowardly" may be a little strong , however "douchey" is quite apt.

brooklyn and i

so if i want still to pay 8 dollars for entering Manhattan from Brooklyn you may should sent it to Christine. Quinn entities ?

thank you Albany for not to put a tax of Brooklyn

brooklyn and i

JacqueMehoff

tie up on the FDR due to some dumb hick who didn't know his commercial truck was not allowed.

who did the news interview besides the dumb hick? single occupant drivers, black, white, asian, hispanic all cars with operator only. All stuck on the FDR. Let's clean that up first before some crazy convoluted payment schemes. anyone remember the PVB scandal? there's money to be made in techno/bureaucracy.

JenChungsBaby

OMG, if I had a buck for every error I've ever found on Wikipedia! How silly. And his position of power makes his Manhattan district the more politically powerful piece of real estate in state government. I would never vote him out if he was my rep.

Murray Hillster

Reading Sheldon Silver's entry on Wikipedia is fascinating and reveals how very little he's done:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_Silver

Obviously, not complete, but interesting nevertheless.

Managed to get the death penalty reinstated (then "ruled unconstitutional by the New York State Court of Appeals") and "In 1999, Silver was instrumental in the repeal of New York City's commuter tax, which taxed non-resident workers similarly to city residents" (sounds familiar) and then a long, LONG, history of stopping and/or blocking everything.

Why does this guy represent anybody in Manhattan? As the NYT notes, he doesn't really seem to do much for his constituents.

Murray Hillster

Reading Sheldon Silver's entry on Wikipedia is fascinating and reveals

Think2wice

Enforce carpooling and turn away single occupancy vehicles at exit ramps. Let's call it a "security measure".

kissel

instead of whining, bloomberg should be fighting to get more federal money to improve the system first before herding more people into it (he actually should have been doing this all along instead of trumpeting a plan that anyone knew would go nowhere). even the officials in london warned that the improvements needed to be done first.

EastRiver

New Yorkers already put more money into the federal tax system more than they receive in federally funded projects.

That's only because Wall Street rapes the average American and pays itself a handsome salary before collapsing the financial system. If you're a typical New Yorker chances are you aren't doing much to aid this imbalance unless you're a managing director at Goldman Sachs or a partner at Cravath with way to much time on his/her hands that you can comment on Gothamist in the middle of the day.

Furthermore, I have yet to see how this data is compiled or if it takes into account benefits we receive for spending done elsewhere. I gladly welcome prudent highway spending in Pennsylvania if it means my food can get trucked here in a reasonable amount of time. Last I checked those vertical farms had not been built yet.

MurphGuide

I don't see why taxpayers from the other 49 states should be paying for a city in NY's public transit.

New Yorkers already put more money into the federal tax system more than they receive in federally funded projects.

Bottomless Chips

rant begin. I love how short sighted everyone appears to be. I'm also very sad that Bloomberg was unable to push through congestion pricing, as I thought it would was a great idea, definitely worth trying, and something that New York City could once again lead the nation in.

Pushing a toll in midtown Manhattan on drivers to pay for inefficiencies with the public authority (MTA) is more short-sighted than anything.

Ace

DWM2008 (#6)

Your posts are always filled with anti-Semitic and racist remarks. Why?

EastRiver

its funny - i can drive into plenty of areas of manhattan most times of the day without seeing this unbearable traffic all you people who DONT even drive keep talking about

I don't need to own a car to know that Midtown traffic between 34th St to 57th St and between Eighth and Lexington Avenues and between the hours of say, 3:30 PM to 6:30 PM is a parking lot. But I have driven it myself on a few occasions and it sucks.

eyekantspel

PlaNYC? wtf is that? do you work for the Bloomberg administration?

I agree on the smoking ban and some of this other stuff, but just because he's right some of the time doesn't mean he's right all of the time.

Såkandulæredet

The plan will be reincarnated some time in our lifetimes.

eyekantspel

I don't see why taxpayers from the other 49 states should be paying for a city in NY's public transit.

that's all part of the free money attitude that exists now. Wait another 8 years or so, when the cashflow from social security taxes that the goverment loans itself is less than the money it has to pay out. Factor in medicare, and we're basically screwed.

jnguy

rant begin. I love how short sighted everyone appears to be. I'm also very sad that Bloomberg was unable to push through congestion pricing, as I thought it would was a great idea, definitely worth trying, and something that New York City could once again lead the nation in. And I do admit that Bloomberg gets pretty whiny when he doesn't get his way, but this guy has still done some amazing things for our city. To go from a deficit to a surplus right after 9/11, the smoking ban, 311, PlaNYC, hybrid cabs, among other things. He is still a great mayor but people seem inclined to forget that pretty easily. end rant.

eyekantspel

unbearable traffic? don't even need to drive for it to affect you. try getting out to JFK or LGA on a weekday

That's true, but that's because the worst traffic problems aren't in lower Manhattan but are instead on/near any of the bridges or tunnels, or on major roads like the BQE, Grand Central Parkway, the LIE, the Van Wyck or the Belt Parkway.